11 Things Empire's Ta'Rhonda Jones (Porsha!) Said to Us That Will Make You Love Her More Than Cookie

It's not easy to stand out when your job is to walk three steps behind the most celebrated woman on television. But as Porsha, assistant to Taraji P. Henson's Cookie on Empire, Ta'Rhonda Jones brings the real and is enchantingly relatable doing it. While everyone else is giving Shakespearean monologues and sweeping in and out of rooms swathed in silk and fur, Porsha wears jeans and talks and acts like any of us would if we somehow fell into the Lyons' fantasy world: slightly confused, a little unpolished, and more than willing to run after Cookie's shoe. Ahead of the drama's season two premiere tonight, we chatted with the rapper and lifelong Chi-town girl about, well, everything—and came away convinced that Jones could out-hustle Cookie if she happens to put her mind to it. You'll feel that way too when you hear what Jones has to say.

On the crazy audition process for Empire: "I've been rapping since I was 10, and someone passed along to me that Terrence Howard was looking for female rappers. I thought maybe he was trying to come out with a little label. I spoke to the casting director on the phone, and she said, 'We're looking for beautiful, talented young women.' I said, 'That's me! I think I'm cute.' She emailed me some lines, but I didn't really go over them because I thought I was just going in to rap. So when I got there and they wanted me to read them, I had to memorize them in a minute. It turned out I was trying out for the Tiana role. After I recited the lines, the director just stared at me for a really long time. I'm like, 'Dang it! I messed up! I ain't going to be with Terrence Howard today.' But then she said she had something else in mind for me, and she emailed me [Porsha] the next day. The rundown said 'ghetto bunny in her 20s.' It just tickled me."

On how Porsha went from bit player to main cast: "My character was only supposed to last three episodes—I was supposed to snitch on Cookie and that's it—but that all changed the first day I met [show creator] Lee Daniels. It was just all love. He said to me, 'What's your name, little girl?' And I said, with so much attitude, 'Porsha.' He fell back in his chair and started kicking, screaming, hollering 'Yes! That's what I'm talking about!'"

On her family: "I have eight siblings. All of our names start with a T. I'm in the middle—I'm the loud, wild one. My grandmother raised us. My mother wasn't in my life until I was about 16, and she finally moved in with us after working out some issues. It's hard living under one roof with eight siblings, your uncle, your granddad. My grandmother had [a lot of people] to take care of, so you couldn't always get new shoes when you needed them, you had to wait two months because it was someone else's turn."

On her work ethic: "My mother and grandmother taught me that no matter the obstacles, you got to keep it moving. You got to keep pushing. I moved out when I was 18 and started working at Jewel-Osco, a grocery store we have here, for $6.50 an hour. I moved up into the meat department, setting up the fish case, then I moved up to fish cutter. Meat wrapper. Then I became a butcher. Don't fool with me—I'm good with the knives. I took on a second job at City Sports as an assistant manager. I worked at a summer camp. I was doing hair on the side. I was literally working from sunup to sundown. I felt so tired, and I was so young—I didn't get to enjoy my money. But I was just trying to get it by any means necessary. There was no sleep for me."

On that time she became head cook at a nursing home—even though she couldn't cook: "I had gotten my food sanitation license [for another job that didn't work out], so I was knocking on the door of every hospital and nursing home in Chicago trying to get a job. Everybody kept turning me down. This lady interviewing me at the very last nursing home said, "I like you a lot, but you don't have enough experience." I don't know who this person was inside of me, but she just came out and roared: 'How do people expect me to gain experience if nobody will give me a chance? I just need one chance. If I mess up, fire me.' She hired me as a prep cook. Two months later, I became the head cook—mind you, the only thing I had ever cooked was boiled hot dogs and Cup O' Noodles in the microwave. What I did was, every night when I got home from work, I would watch the Food Network for hours, just watch everything they did. I wanted to be great. And not to toot my own horn, but the food was superb."

On her high school hustle designing evening wear: "I studied fashion in high school. I would draw things I would wear if I was girlier. When I was a sophomore, the seniors were getting ready for prom time. Everybody was like, 'I don't want to see somebody in the same dress.' So I pitched them: 'Let me design your dress.' I started doing prom dresses, birthday outfits for people. I posted a little paper on my locker so people would know: 'I'm the girl who designs the clothes. You can find me here at so-and-so period.' I'd come out of class and have 10 people waiting there."

On her longtime love: "I met my boyfriend working at Jewel-Osco. He wouldn't stop talking to me—he was so irritating, but he was so persistent. He'd walk up and say 'Miss Jones, how you doing?' He's calling me Miss Jones, and I'm 20 years old. One day I was smiling, and when I smiled I used to put my hand over my mouth because I didn't like my teeth. He grabbed my hand away and said, 'You shouldn't cover up your smile. You got a beautiful smile.' He wasn't my type, but he was making me want him! Finally, I wrote my number down on a receipt and handed it to him and said, 'You use this if you think you're man enough.' He called me three days later, and I tell you, I was itching and burning for that call. We've been together for seven years."

On inventing her own look for Empire season two: "I told Lee, 'I don't want those braids back. That was hell for me!' They made me look old. Lee saw my hair green and was like, 'I like this. Let's do this.' Lee told [wardrobe and styling], 'Just leave her. Don't change her hair, let her wear her own clothes, let her do her own makeup.'"

On what Porsha will get up to in season two: "She's throwing out there that she's musically inclined, but Cookie keeps shooting her down. Every two episodes, I'm saying, 'Let me rap for Hakeem, I got skills' and she's like, 'No, you don't. Stop saying that.'"

In an exchange that didn't make her cover story, Taraji P. Henson told us that she imagines Cookie found Porsha in a strip club and saved her from a life on the pole. Jones' take: "Yeah, [Henson] told me that. But I told Lee, 'I can't take my clothes off!' I think maybe Porsha was a cellmate—Cookie's muscle when she was in jail."

On the best advice Henson ever gave her: "She told me, 'Just do you. Do what you came here to do, and that's be your doggone self.' I love when she tells me that. I be like, 'Yes to everything.'"

Now that you're obviously being Porsha for Halloween, here's how your friend can be Cookie: